CEIBS Program ON creativity and Innovation.

What makes you creative? How do we work collectively in innovation processes, when creativity is most needed? Those two key questions lead through the CEIBS Program on Saturday July 8th. Eighteen managers from China wanted to know more about ideas, methodology and impactful examples. The introduction lecture “creative leadership” raised questions around the mindset and attitude to boost innovation. Forget the manager – welcome to the conductor, facilitating the creative flow and social space. Best results in innovation processes emerge, if the team plays relationship to its best and is able to inspire each other. These preconditions were discussed along two different approaches, design thinking and strategic innovation.

During the afternoon, the participants visited the Landesmuseum Zürich. They wanted to learn first-hand, how a museum is able to rethink the three core levers of strategic innovation: the who = new customers, the what = new products and services, the how = new visitor relationship. The core of the museum is the Swiss “brand” story. Recently the museum has developed a full range of innovative ideas and put them to action. For instance, targeting young people, the museum offers a format, called “Lakritz”, which is a food, drink and dance event, attracting thousands of young visitors, which might not often go to a museum. Further tours, prepared by online bloggers, facebook writers and comedians, brought a different twist. Finally, most impressive for the Chinese group was the use of digital technology. Any questions like: can history be told in a playful and fun way, here it was answered. Books are used as a screen. Scrolling from page to page, the story of Swiss history, fundamental values or even the Heidi tale, was told, through high definition projection. The highlight of that section is a big rock sculpture, showing the Gotthard mountains. The astonished visitor takes a mini pad, looks through the screen to the sculpture and discovers, rivers, cities and mountain passes. Finally, it all becomes clear what innovation is at the Landesmuseum. There is no contradiction between old and new, analogue and digital. It is all about to tell a story and get information across in the most attractive way, in order to reach out for new visitors.

Did the museum do those steps of innovation consciously, one of the Chinese participants asked. Looking back that year, it looks like conscious choice. But in reality, those choices were triggered by different situations and powerful ideas. Nevertheless, the red thread and what all inspired at the museum to do so, was to create the new.